Welcome

My Blog's aim is to promote and encourage others to participate in the wonderful hobby that is Moth-trapping.So why do we do it? well for some people it is to get an insight into the world of Moths, for others it is to build a list of species much like 'Twitching' in the Bird world.The reason I do it....you never know what you might find when you open up that trap! I hope to show what different species inhabit our Country by getting people awareof what is out there.On this Blog you will find up-to-date records and pictures.I run a trap regularly in my garden here in Hertfordshire and enjoy doing field trips to various localities within Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

Please also check out the links in the sidebar to the right for other people's Blogs and informative Websites.

Thanks for looking & happy Mothing!

KEY

NFY = New Species For The YearNFG = New Species For The GardenNEW! = New Species For My Records

Any Species highlighted inREDsignifies a totally new species for my records.

If you have any questions or enquiries then please feel free to email meContact Email :bensale@rocketmail.com

Thursday, 9 May 2013

On the night of the 7th Roger, David and myself ran 1 trap near Hay Wood, 2 traps next to Green Croft and left 2 running at Gadesprings, hoping to cover as much of the Boxmoor's Trust land as we could on one night without doing ourselves an injury!Their was a minor hiccup at about 9pm when I realised that I had not turned the lights on at Gadesprings (as we left before dark at 8.30pm), so a quick race down to flick the switch and it was back upto Green Croft to resume business.The weather was pretty much perfect with a steady temperature of 16c as the light faded, unfortunately the cloud did not materialise and a breeze picked up which didn't help things.The moths were quite few and far between especially for this time of year, although most expected species turned up (minus Water Carpet and Powdered Quaker, both of which we trapped on the 24th of April)Lunar Marbled Brown and Common Quaker were by far the commonest with 12 and 15 of each respectively.Highlight for myself was a melanic Nut-tree Tussock, I have never seen such a dark example and was reminiscent of the Tawny Marbled Minor's you get mid-summer, both Roger and David said that they get a fair few like this, but this being my first out of countless Nut-tree Tussocks over the years.The most interesting micro was a single example of Cochylis atricapitana, initially I thought it was hybridella but I must have had a brain-lacking moment as this moth isn't on the wing until July (typically).On the beetle front the Carabid Agonum dorsale was new for me and a Weevil that is yet to be identified was found walking around one of the traps.Out of all the traps, the 125w MV Robinson at Green Croft did the best.The full list is below, it is interesting to note that each location had some different species.Green Croft - Hemel Hempstead - 9pm til 12pmMacro moths1x Chestnut1x Waved Umber1x Shuttle-shaped Dart5x Nut-tree Tussock3x Red-green Carpet1x Yellow-barred Brindle1x Small Quaker12x Lunar Marbled Brown15x Common Quaker4x Early Thorn2x Clouded Drab1x Satellite4x Hebrew Character8x Brindled PugMicro moths2x Eriocrania subpurpurella1x Agonopterix arenellaHay Wood - Hemel Hempstead - 9pm til 12pmMacro Moths 1x Pebble Prominent1x Common QuakerMicro Moths2x Agonopterix arenellaGadesprings - Hemel Hempstead - 9pm til 12.30pmMacro Moths1x Clouded Drab1x Red Twin-spot Carpet1x Hebrew Character1x Early Thorn2x Early Grey1x Pale Prominent4x Common Quaker1x ChestnutMicro moths1x Eriocrania subpurpurella1x Cochylis atricapitana